King Felix too much as bats can’t keep pace in loss to Mariners

SEATTLE — Rudy Owens was set up for heartache, making his major league debut against a pitcher who’s among the very best in the game, the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez. Owens held his own for a while, too, escaping a bruising first inning, but the Mariners kept coming in a 6-1 Astros loss.

The last time the Astros faced Hernandez, they got to him about as well as anyone this year, scoring six runs in 7 1/3 innings — although only two runs were earned — on April 21 at Safeco Field.

King Felix had his royal magic this time. He threw eight innings of one-run ball, struck out nine and allowed five hits and one walk. Dexter Fowler, L.J. Hoes and Jason Castro fanned against him twice. The Astros have dropped four in a row after an encouraging homestand that ended last weekend.

Owens, 26, had a 6.05 ERA at Class AAA Oklahoma City, although his peripherals were better: 32 strikeouts to eight walks. He was already on the team’s 40-man roster, too, helping his case for a promotion.

“He came in, I told him congratulations, I asked him were his parents here in town, he said they were able to make it in,” manager Bo Porter said. “I told him just enjoy it, you’ll always remember your first one, regardless of how long you play this game, your first one will always be special. So it was congratulations and go out, do what you’ve been doing your entire life.”

Owens was charged with five of the Mariners’ six runs in 5 2/3 innings. He threw 91 pitches — right on target, because he was coming out of the Astros’ piggyback system in the minors, Porter said. The Mariners tallied nine hits off him, while Owens struck out one and walked two and was demoted after the game as planned.

“Definitely work on my curveball,” said Owens of what he’d take away. “I was pitching without that today, and I mean it’s hard to miss bats … just got to get back on the hill and work at it.”

The Astros’ lone run came in the third inning. Marwin Gonzalez led off with a walk, moved to second on a groundout, took third on a wild pitch and came home on a Jose Altuve single.

Altuve entered the day as the Astros hitter who’s had the most success off Hernandez, 5-for-12, and added on with three more hits Friday — including a liner that literally hurt, hitting one off Hernandez’s leg in the eighth inning.

Altuve, the ever-shining bright spot, has multiple hits in 10 of his last 13 games and in 20 games overall.

“I would not want to imagine that, so let’s not speak that into existence,” Porter said when asked how it would be without Altuve.

Altuve accounts for five of the Astros’ nine hits total in their last two games. In their last three games, the Astros have 11 hits in all, although that includes a match-up with another ace: the Angels’ Jered Weaver.

Porter made no excuses.

“This is the big leagues,” Porter said. “And if you want to play here, you want to compete here, those are the guys that are here. They’re not going to say, ‘Well, we’re not going to throw those guys against you.'”

Kyle Seager’s two-run single made it 2-0 Mariners in the first inning, the third of three straight hits after a Robinson Cano single and Justin Smoak double.

The Mariners plated another run in the fourth inning on a Willie Bloomquist sac fly, pulling ahead 3-1. Bloomquist was the one who helped them pull away two innings later.

In the sixth inning, Mike Zunino hit a deep fly to right field that was ruled a double off the very top of the wall. The Mariners challenged that it was actually a home run, but the call was upheld.

It became irrelevant on the next pitch. Owens allowed a two-run shot down the left-field line to Bloomquist for a 5-1 ‘Stros deficit.

The Mariners scored one more run in the seventh inning, on another Seager RBI-hit. Seager, who had a walk-off home run against the Astros on April 23, drove in three runs on the day. Of the 31 RBIs he has this season, 11 have come against the Astros.